Here is a testimonial from the Realtor. I’ll admit I got a little teary reading this one.

“I can’t say enough about Annie…not only is she a real professional, she goes beyond the call of duty… This home was vacant and the seller was out of state, so all the correspondence was conducted via email, and having a very particular seller, details were a big part of it…She did not disappoint either myself or my seller!  The staging was done on time and our first Broker’s open brought out a huge turnout due to the fabulous photos that I was able to post after the staging was complete in enough time to tantalize the buyers. We had four offers right away and it was in escrow within 5 days of hitting the market, I say that’s a REAL SUCCESS STORY! Thank you Annie once again for making me look good and doing what I promise my clients, have the home in the best condition you can, and they will come! Looking forward to the next opportunity to work with you!”

-Claudia Border, GRI

The townhome had been painted and remodeled, so we had a great canvas to work with! Unfortunately the awkward layout of the living room, a not-so-neutral paint color, and a seemingly unusable loft space above the second bedroom were making it difficult for buyers to fall in love with the home.

Living Room Before

Without furniture, the living room felt tiny. The awkwardly placed fireplace didn’t help. Our first order of business was to make this space feel large enough for a regular living room set so buyers could see themselves entertaining in the space.

Living Room After

Properly scaled furniture made the space feel open and inviting and didn’t shut off views to the dining room. Relocating some installed surround sound speakers in the niche above the fireplace allowed us to put in a 46″ faux plasma TV so buyers could imagine themselves snuggling up in front of the TV for a relaxing evening at home. And with furniture in the space, the built-in wine cabinet didn’t feel like an afterthought.

Master Bedroom Before

This bedroom was fairly large and had beautiful built-in cabinets (not shown), but the purple color on the walls felt a bit too taste-specific for most buyers.

Master Bedroom After

Since there was no budget to paint, we brought in a black, white and silver color scheme to neutralize the space.

Guest Room Before

The guest room was small, mainly because of the spiral staircase that took up a good chunk of the usable space.

Guest Room After

By using a daybed with a smaller footprint, this guest room now feels spacious and functional.

Loft Before

What buyer wouldn’t love to have a bonus room in a 2-bedroom townhome? Unfortunately the sloping ceiling made this room feel like its only possible function could be storage.

Loft After

Luckily Stage to Sell came to the rescue with some properly scaled office furniture that gave this space a whole new lease on life!

Well our hard work has paid off. This townhome is now in escrow with a backup offer!

Congratulations to the owner and Realtors on a quick sale.

With most consultations, I spend a couple of hours at the property, email out my detailed, room-by-room Staging report and don’t usually hear anything more about it. (The whole point of a consultation is providing a low cost, do-it-yourself option for those who may not be able to afford full Staging services.) Sometimes I get a followup question here and there, and every once in awhile I check out the MLS photos of the homes just to make sure the sellers are following my advice, but that’s generally the extent of it.

But sometimes the results are so remarkable that they warrant an e-mail like the one I received yesterday from my client, telling me that a Westchester home we recently did a consultation for had been listed at $674,000, it had 6 offers in 6 days, and was now in escrow at $695,000!

Excuse me, but aren’t we in a recession here?! And yet these are similar to the results we were seeing at the height of the L.A. real estate frenzy.

Now when you look at the photo below, please note that I did not Stage this property, nor did I take the photo. I merely gave the seller a detailed list of what she could do, using just what she already had in the home, to Stage it herself! That rug was folded up at the bottom of her linen closet. The vase was in another room. The elements were all there, but they just hadn’t been properly put together. But this motivated seller followed my directions and got herself many of the benefits of a Staged home at a fraction of the cost!

Now I’d call that a win/win!